The Tennis Thread

[Chaky]

So was Petra losing to Aga a surprise? She certainly played quite poorly and was apparently pretty devastated with how she performed. Still time to turn it around for her.

And Maria and Serena both looking in good form.

 

[Scott]

i do think that was a bit of a surprise. with the record she has and her game-style,she should have been able to hit through aga a bit more. but i was hearing this morning during the coverage from lindsay davenport that all the players are saying the court surface is playing slower than last year,so i wonder how much that might have affected petra's preparation and performance today?

but i feel bad that she's upset about it. maybe it's what she needs to wake herself up though? i hope she can turn it around.

 

[Chaky]

Poor Petra is layed up in bed again. She's had a rough time with illness and injury.

I watched both epic matches yesterday. Wanted Aga to beat Masha but seems like her serve started to fail her at the crucial time late in the second set. But it was amazing how they just kept running for 3 hours!

Feel really sorry for Kerber who gave 100% and yet comes away from this event 0-3.

 

[Scott]

well she was ill a few weeks ago in japan and beijing with a virus so it may be some lingering affects. hope she'll be well enough for fed cup next weekend because she's their best bet on defending their title. you know,for all the disappointments and speculation about her form,petra has been sick and injured quite a lot this season and it may explain why she isn't nearly as confident in herself and why she hasn't been so consistent. i mean relatively speaking she's had a solid season,much better than most following that initial major breakthrough,but it does seem her motivation deep in tournaments has waned this season. i seriously hope petra takes this off-season and works on her belief and focus again.

i agree with you though,even though i was immensely disappointed to see kvitova pull out,the last couple days have really been a great couple days of quality matches. yesterday with vika and kerber and then aga and maria...and today li na and kerber was good. good match between vika and serena today as well. i feel horrible for kerber too because she did so much work in these last two matches only to go out 0-3. it's too bad. even errani managed to scrape through a nice victory today against sam stosur,and she's still in it believe or not,depending on what happens with aga tomorrow.

but it looks like serena is really the one putting it all together this week. she struggled a little today....struggled a bit against kerber in the first match but she is absolutely unwaivered. to be honest,i don't think anybody will be able to take her down. vika tried so hard today and still lost in straight sets. and forget sharapova she's barely won three games in each of their most recent meetings.

 

[Scott]

what in hell is going on with sam stosur? she is so up and down. a couple weeks ago at tokyo she was able to beat sharapova and at stuttgart early in the year she lead by a set and a 5/1 lead against her too. she usually plays well against maria. but today was uncharacteristically poor. her serve was horrendous and for as affective as it is,it's very inconsistent. it's just strange because most players,especially champions,tend to play off significant wins or streaks,but it seems to do the opposite for sam.

but how about aga and sara errani! first time in ages we've seen two finesse players face off in an event of this magnitude. i think henin and mauresmo were the last two of this level. errani played a very good match. and much better than their last meeting. i have to say about errani though,i commend her because she's making the most of her talent. for all that limits her,power and stature,she certainly hasn't allowed it to negate her determination. unfortunate that she's looking a bit fatigued in this final set because she seriously was looking like she had a chance for the semis.

 

[Chaky]

Don't know about Sam. Didn't see the match today but the scorelines of the two she played were not pretty. Bartoli must feel aggrieved that it wasn't her as the first alternate as she might have done a bit better.

Aga vs Sara was yet another epic and total contrast to most of the other matches we've seen. Drop shot heaven! But they hit over 100 winners combined. Stats looked great. Radwanska apparently returned 95% of Errani's serves as well. And she displayed good mental toughness because she was close to going out.

Poor Aga probably doesn't have much of a shot against Serena now. She must be exhausted after two marathons.

The crowd love it though! This is the best venue the YEC has had in years. Such a shame there is talk of Istanbul pulling out. And Doha want it back. Please WTA, don't let that happen. Yes they've got all the money but it was a soulless event there with nobody watching.

 

[Scott]

really?? i heard they talking today that istanbul had another year and were actually planning to make another bid to keep it for another 3 years. i agree,istanbul has had the most enthusiasm and the best turn-out i've seen since i started following tennis. LA was horrid. madrid was okay but the wta never gave it an opportunity. doha like LA was dead most of the time. if they get it back that will be a terrible step backwards for the WTA.

 

[Chaky]

I'm fairly certain that Istanbul are selling the tickets really cheap. And because of this they are basically making no money out of it. It's one big promotional expense for the city and Turkey.

Nothing is confirmed but they've mentioned rumours on Eurosport that the government want to pull out next year. I sincerely hope that's not true. It's certain Istanbul won't bid for it again for the 2014-16 stretch though.

Doha have a lot of money, and money talks. That would be such a disaster though. Apparently candidates for the next home of the YEC will be narrowed down to those in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

I would think somewhere in Brazil would be quite good. But they have financial problems of their own what with getting the Olympics going. Prague would be a nice setting.

 

[Scott]

you know,prague would be a feasible choice what with the resurgence of highly visible elite czech players like kvitova,berdych and hlavackova and hredecka,the women winning fed cup and back into a final with both finals being hosted in CR and of course the men being in the davis cup final this year as host nation as well. i like the idea of that.

 

[Scott]

interesting semifinals yesterday,if not rather anticlimactic. i was surprised by that vika vs sharapova result. vika just having beaten maria a couple weeks ago pretty handily and overall having a pretty solid record this season against her. she looked rather drained yesterday mentally and physically. and aga,those two matches took a lot out of her.

and the doubles! i was completely surprised to see errani and vinci taken out especially after taking that first set in their typically emphatic form. i guess that's what happens when you play a team that's dangerous but also sort of up and down like petrova and kirilenko have been. so both no.1's in singles and doubles were bounced yesterday. and huber and raymond....not a huge shock given their season but i wonder if this is the last of their partnership? will huber end up dumping raymond and then blame raymond for all their struggles like she did to cara black?

but kirilenko and petrova seemed to have caught a nice wind here at this event as they just took down the czech team for the championship. they played great today. maybe this will do for them as it did for others who have won this as their first big event before going on to major success. like it did for mauresmo. they only had the one final at RG this year. i guess it will depend if they can stay focused and committed throughout the season and play as consistently as the italians and the czechs have.

 

[Chaky]

They announced today the shortlist of host cities for 2014 YEC:

Kazan, Russia
Mexico City
Singapore
Tianjin, China

Think a big factor has to be a place where the locals will get into it as much as they have in Istanbul. If Kazan is anything like Moscow then it might not be a good idea.

Also doubles will expand to eight teams in 2014. Hopefully the tournament will expand to a week which should allow more time in the schedule to let players recover.

 

[Scott]

interesting. i'm not sure what is so attractive about any of those cities but i also never expected istanbul to be host city for the event either so we shall see. i still like your idea of this possibly being held in CR in the future.

that is such great news about the doubles field. i think it's long overdue that they expand the field and gave the doubles competition a full draw. two rounds just do not suffice. besides that,it will give the championships some much needed depth and equal focus,hopefully.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Congrats to Nole - what a great end to another wonderful season for you.

Good job Fed - you fought hard and won another slam.

Way to go Muzz - you broke through and made your country and fans proud with Olympics!

Come back soon Rafa - still look what you achieved and you missed half the year!

Tennis is in great hands, and the other top tens, like Del Potro, Berdych, Tsonga, and Ferrer have had great years too.

2013 should be exciting!

 

[Chaky]

Fantastic match yesterday. Can't believe Roger didn't take that second set. Nole might be the best I've ever seen in the clutch situations. He can be set points or match points down and still come back!

But as a Federer fan I've gotta say I loved this bit.

changeovertennis.com

Not Plain Jane, you're absolutely right. This year was a great one for all the Top 4. Yeah Rafa missed most of it but he still dominated the clay season again. And now with Del Potro showing signs of getting back to his best I've very excited for next year already.

 

[DanceFashionista]

I wish for Tsonga to win a Major

 

[Not Plain Jane]

BUMP! Is no one here watching the AO or what?!

I was kind of surprised by Kvitova going out the Robson, although she is something of a giant killer it seems.

The top guys are all cruising thus far - no major upsets there.

Azarenka, Sharapova and Serena are all baking bagels regularly it seems.

 

[Scott]

i was surprised too by kvitova especially since she lead for most of that third set. but i have to say kvitova has been struggling a lot with her asthma since the aussie season started and the heat from this particularly excruciating aussie summer this year has exasperated her issues. she does look much fitter than she did before the off-season so maybe she'll bounce back during the middle east events.

i wouldn't make as much of sharapova's bagels as the media has. misaki doi is pretty inexperienced against the top players and doesn't have the game to threaten her. against puchkova she did struggle a lot....puchkova had a lot of looks and a lot of break points in that match but we haven't seen puchkova for a while so i don't think she up to the task. venus played a very good match,especially in that second set but venus made a lot of errors in that and her serve was kind of subpar. i hope venus continues to work everything out because she has been playing better since the end of the season.

btw,nice to have svetlana kuznetsova back. no one is talking how good she's looked so far and she's in a nice part of the draw. she potentially has wozniacki upcoming who she beat at sydney last week and if she continues playing well she could definitely threaten vika if she ends up getting that far.

li na has looked pretty sharp so far herself and is in aga's section in maria's half of the draw and li na does know how to beat both women so i would watch out for her. and she has been very determined and has talked since the season began how much she wants another major. carlos has done a great job with her i think in just getting her to believe in herself more.

 

[maxlinden]

I was soo upset to find out that Rafa would not be participating in the Aussie Open.

Just watched Sharapova demolish Venus in straight sets, also a major upset.

Tomic as cocky as the kid may be is really proving himself to be a contender, hope he makes things interesting in his match to come with Federer.

Andy is playing exceptional and so is Djokovic, I assume one of them will make it to the final.

 

[Scott]

it's actually kind of nice to see that tomic is finally taking his tennis and his career seriously. i still don't care for his appalling arrogance though. his comments pre-tournament,about taking on federer were absurdly self-centered for a guy who could barely get out of first rounds last year. ryan harrison is no different. he got a full dose of reality after he made some rather obnoxious comments regarding his match with djokovic. i imagine tomic will get the same taste of reality.

 

[Scott]

i am utterly gutted for jamie hampton. she was winning that match before that back injury hampered her. got to give her credit for staying out there fighting through it and still making some unbelievable shots. she scared the crap out of vika.

i'm not really a big nationalist but it's so nice to see some talented young women from america making some impressions finally. women that might actually make good on all their promise. particularly for me sloane and madison keys are going to be two to watch but i actually think madison is the most talented of them all. jamie hampton,particularly,is from my neck of the woods and has been playing some strong tennis the past few weeks. i hope she recovers from this back issue and continues to build on these impressive results. i like the way she plays...she has a very balanced game of serve,power and nuance. those are great qualities for today's game.